The Hindu            15.10.2013

Moily directs MCC to promote bicycles

Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas M. Veerappa Moily asked the Mangalore City Corporation (MCC) to promote bicycles in the city.

Speaking at an awareness programme on saving fuel at a petrol bunk in Balmatta here on Monday, he said the MCC should set up cycle stands in the city and cycles could be provided at lower rates.

He said road congestion led to petrol wastage and pollution but traffic could not be stopped just because it created congestion. As had been done in Japan, the city corporation should build cycle stands. “We will give cycles,” he said, requesting J.R. Lobo, MLA, to follow-up on the suggestion. He said that people could travel at staggered timings. After three months, a third party appraisal would be carried out to ascertain the effectiveness of the initiative, he said.

He said the staff at the Petroleum Ministry and its companies in Delhi took public transport every Wednesday. The ministry and its officials had saved Rs. 2 crore till now since the drive had been launched to save fuel, about five days back.

The Pioneer             09.10.2013

RMC, JICA ink pact for drainage system survey

JICA is an independent Government agency of Japan mandated with assisting economic and social growth in developing countries. As per the agreement signed, the Japanese team will conduct the survey while the RMC will provide a temporary office space to the agency. The survey is likely to begin from January next year and will be complete in three months’ time.  However, the agency will submit the report to the municipal body towards the second half of 2014.

“We may get the survey report tentatively by September next year,” said Deputy CEO of RMC Shailendra Lal. Interestingly, the agreement is not legally binding on any of the parties, JICA and RMC. “We have no legal obligations under the agreement,” Lal said. The survey for 757 km long and Rs 1,500 crore sewerage system will be based on the Detailed Project Report (DPR) developed by Meinhardt, a Singapore based firm in 2011. The JICA is likely to provide Rs 685 crore for it.

"The survey will cover factors like cost escalation besides gradients, topography and changes needed in the DPR prepared earlier," added Lal. RMC CEO Dipankar Panda said that the Government of India, after some initial hiccups, approved the sewerage plan involving around Rs 1,500 crore, referred it to the Japan Government for soft loan. “So, the project will be funded partly by JICA and also by the Centre under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM),” he added.     

As per the DPR, the city has been divided into four zones and as many as three solid waste treatment plants (STP) are needed to process the waste collected. The Japanese team also visited the sites for STPs proposed at Bariatu, Loadih and Misir-gonda. Incidentally, the Japanese agency will fund the project at an estimated rate of interest of less than one per cent. The agency, however, has to submit a debt sustainability certificate to the Central Government issued by the State government before the loan could be processed back at the company headquarters in Japan.